Transglobal Car Expedition begins northern leg of journey

A team hoping to pull off an ambitious journey around the world by vehicle is starting the northern leg of its trek this week.

Members of the Transglobal Car Expedition plan to travel from the United States to the North Pole before heading through Europe, Africa, Antarctica and South America, returning to the US 17 months after departing.

The expedition left New York City last month, bound for its northern staging point of Yellowknife. This week, the group leaves Yellowknife for the next stop: Cambridge Bay.

The team previously came to the Northwest Territories in 2022 to complete a trial run from Yellowknife to Resolute Bay.

That trip made headlines after the group’s private aircraft, with two Russian nationals onboard, was grounded in Yellowknife amid a ban on Russian aircraft entering Canadian airspace.

The expedition also lost a vehicle through the ice near Nunavut’s Tasmania Islands while returning to Cambridge Bay after reaching Resolute. Team members later retrieved the modified F-150 truck using divers, airbags and a helicopter.

“We’ve learned a lot from our previous experiences,” said expedition member and professional driver Andrew Comrie-Picard.

“We have much closer relationships with the local Indigenous peoples and that’s allowed us to really have a lot more ice knowledge.”

This time, he said, the expedition will use amphibious vehicles over more challenging sections of Arctic ice to increase safety.

Comrie-Picard, who grew up in Edmonton, said the expedition team has made connections with people in communities across the North, including hunters and trappers in Cambridge Bay and Taloyoak.

“From not knowing anybody to developing relationships in the community, it’s been a great process over the last couple of years,” he said.

“I think Yellowknife stands out as one of the places where there’s the most get ‘er done people and the most sort of relationships where, ‘oh, I know the person who does this,’ or ‘you’ve got to talk to that person,'” he added. “As a Canadian myself, it’s really great to see the way the community works together.”

Changing patterns

Climate challenges and unusual weather have made planning the Arctic portion of the expedition difficult.

“The weather has been a real mess,” Comrie-Picard said. “You can see that there have been changing climatic patterns and we’re very alive to that, we’re very sensitive to that.”

For example, he said, Arctic Ocean ice east of Nunavut’s King William Island recently shifted, which doesn’t usually happen this late in the season.

Comrie Picard said the team has access to satellite imagery and scientists alongside community connections to help make travel decisions.

Meanwhile, Comrie-Picard said the expedition will collect data for five different scientific projects over the next year and a half, including one on ice thickness and another on cosmic rays.

You can follow the cosmic radiation measurement in real-time online. Comrie-Picard said this is the first time cosmic rays will be measured at the North Pole.

“We’re really excited and the scientists are really excited to be able to get these sensors and equipment around the world, where they’ve never been before,” he said.

The expedition is also involved in citizen science projects where people can participate in data collection, including one on light pollution.

Comrie-Picard said the group will try to visit schools wherever it can to help educate students about the research.

You can follow the expedition’s journey on its website.